Pakistani American

Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the
United States who has Pakistani heritage.Muslim
immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been
migrating to America and first entered the United States
as early as the eighteenth century, working in
agriculture, logging, and mining in the western states
of California, Oregon,
and Washington. The
passage of the Luce-Celler
Act of 1946 allowed
these immigrants to acquire U.S. citizenship through
naturalization. Between 1947 and 1965, only 2,500
Pakistani immigrants entered the United States; most of
them were students who chose to settle in the United
States after graduating from American universities,
according to reports from the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service.
This marked the beginning of a distinct 'Pakistani'
community in America. However after President Lyndon
Johnson signed
the INS
Act of 1965 into
law, eliminating per-country immigration quotas and
introducing immigration on the basis of professional
experience and education, the number of Pakistanis
immigrating to USA increased dramatically. By 1990, the
U.S. Census bureau indicated that there were about
100,000 Pakistani Americans in the United States and by
2005 their population had grown to 210,000.

Ethnic
classification

Pakistani Americans
are currently classified as Asian
Americans by the United
States Census Bureau. Ethnically,
they fit the definition of South
Asian American,
Pakistanis are an ethnically diverse people with
ancestries from many countries such as India,
Afghanistan, Iran, Arabia, and so forth. Though Pakistan
is in essence a multi-ethnic and multilingual state, its
people are either predominantly Indo-Europeanand Indo-Iranian both
ethnically and linguistically. Pakistan has ethnic and
cultural diversity in its nation.

In the US segregation during the 1960s
Pakistanis (along with all other Asians) counted as
colored people or when there were only facilities or
areas or items for white people and black people then
Pakistanis were counted as "other" with akk other Asians

Demographics

Paterson, New Jersey, within the New
York City Metropolitan Area, is becoming an
increasingly popular destination for
Pakistani as well as otherMuslim immigrants.

The U.S.
Census Bureau in 2010 estimated that there were
363,699 U.S. residents of Pakistani descent
living in the United States.The
Census Bureau, however, excluded those living in
institutions, college dormitories, and other group
quarters. Some studies estimate the size of the Pakistani community
to be much higher and in 2005 research by the Pakistani
embassy in the US found that the population numbered
more than 700,000 people. The gap in numbers maybe a
result of the U.S. census to count only Pakistani
immigrants and exclude those born in the United States
between Pakistani parents and those that are
second/third generation Americans of Pakistani descent,
another reason is that some surveys group Pakistanis
with other Asians thereby distorting the true
number. Pakistan is the 12th highest
ranked source country for immigration into the United
States.

The top 10 states of residence for the
foreign-born of Pakistani origin, 2006 and top 10 metro
areas of residence for the foreign-born of Pakistani
origin, 2006. Out of a total population of 271,428:

50% of Pakistani
Americans have origins in the Punjab
Province of Pakistan. About 30% are Muhajirs and
the rest are made up of other ethnic Groups from
Pakistan, including Pashtuns, Balochis and Sindhis.The
most systematic study of the demography of Pakistanis in
America is found in Prof. Adil
Najam's book which
estimates a total of around 500,000

Pakistanis in the United States hold the
largest concentrations in the states of New
York and New
Jersey, each with around 100,000
Pakistani-Americans.

There is a large Pakistani population in
Texas with estimates numbered around 100,000. They are
concentrated around three main cities of Austin, Dallas and Houston (in
the three County areas of Harris, Spring and Fort
Bend). They are also located in Plano, Richardson, Carrollton, Arlington, Irving, Hurst, Euless,
and Bedford. The
community is made up of professionals involved in
medicine, I.T., engineering, large businesses involved
in textiles, manufacturing, real estate, management and
also smaller ones such as travel agencies, motels,
restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations.

Many Pakistanis can be found in the city
of St.Louis, Missouri and it's suburbs such as: Ballwin,
Chesterfield, Ellisville, Manchester Etc.

Religion

Most Pakistani Americans are Muslims.
Religion figures prominently in the life of Pakistani
American families, and the Quran and
the teachings of Muhammad serve
as the guidelines that Pakistani Muslims are supposed to
follow throughout their lives.

The majority of Pakistanis belong to the Sunni sect
of Islam, although there is a significant representation
of the Shi'ite sect.
In smaller towns in America where there may not be
mosques within easy access, Pakistani Americans make
trips to attend the nearest one on major religious
holidays and occasions.Pakistani Americans worship at
mosques alongside other Muslims who might trace their
ancestry to all parts of the Islamic world; there are
generally no separate Pakistani American mosques.

Although most
Pakistani Americans are Muslims,
there are also Hindus, Christians,
and Zoroastrians within
the community. Pakistani Christians, like Asian
Christians, worship at churches all over the country and
share in the religious life of the dominant Christian
culture in America. Pakistani Hindus mainly share in the
religious life of numerous Hindus (including large
number of American converts) from various nationalities.
Pakistani Hindus are mostly from Karachi. In recent
times, Pakistani Zoroastrians (called Parsis)
have come to the United States mainly from the cities
of Lahore and Karachi.Apart
from fellow Pakistanis, they also congregate with
fellow Zoroastrian co-religionists
from Iran.

Other Pakistanis in the United States
might practice: Buddhism, Sikhism, Taoism, Confucianism,
Jainism, etc.

Culture

Like the terms "Asian American" or "South
Asian American", the term "Pakistani American" is also
an umbrella label applying to a variety of views,
values, lifestyles, and appearances. Although Pakistani
Americans retain a high ethnic identity, they are known
to assimilate into American culture while at the same
time keeping the culture of their ancestors. Pakistani
Americans are known to assimilate more easily than many
other immigrant groups because they have fewer language
barriers (English is widely spoken in Pakistan among
professional classes), more educational credentials
(immigrants are disproportionately well educated among
Pakistanis), and come from a similarly diverse,
relatively tolerant, and multi-ethnic society. Pakistani
Americans are well represented in the fields of
medicine, engineering, finance and information
technology. Pakistani Americans have brought
Pakistani cuisine to the United States, and Pakistani
cuisine has been established as one of the most
popular cuisines in the country with hundreds of
Pakistani restaurants in each major city and several
similar eateries in smaller cities and towns. There are
many Pakistani markets and stores in United
States. Some of the largest Pakistani markets are
in New
York City, Central
New Jersey, Washington,
D.C., Chicago,
and Houston

Languages

Pakistani Americans
often retain their native languages. Some examples of
these are Punjabi and Urdu.As
English is an officially recognized language in Pakistan
and is taught in schools throughout the country many
immigrants coming to the United States generally have a
good grasp of the English language.

Many Pakistanis in the United States
speak some of Pakistan's various regional languages such
as: Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto, and Farsi

Economics
and Education

The Pakistani American
community today lives in a comfortable middle-class,
upper-middle-class and wealthy-class lifestyles.Many
Pakistani Americans follow the residence pattern set by
others that when they increase their wealth, they are
able to own their own businesses; including restaurants,
groceries, clothing and appliance stores, newspaper
booths, and travel agencies. It is common to include
members of the extended and immediate family in the
business. The Pakistani American community is said to be
philanthropic, research shows that in the year 2002 the
community gave close to US$ 1 Billion in philanthropic
activities (including value of volunteered time). An
increasing number of Pakistani Americans work in the
medical field. The Association
of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA),
has been meeting in various locations across the United
States for the
past 30 years. There are more than 15,000 doctors
practicing medicine in America who are from Pakistani
decent. Pakistan is the fourth highest source of IMG doctors
in the U.S. and they are chiefly concentrated in New
York, California, Florida, New
Jersey and Illinois. Pakistan
is also the fourth highest source of foreign dentists
licensed in the United States. US congressmen and
congresswomen have lauded the contributions of Pakistani
medical professionals to the country's healthcare
system.Pakistani
Americans tend to follow the residence pattern set by
other Americans, in that they move to more affluent
suburbs as their prosperity and wealth increases.
Members of the community believe in the symbolic
importance of owning homes; accordingly, Pakistani
Americans tend to save money and make other monetary
sacrifices earlier on in order to purchase their own
homes as soon as possible.Members
of the family and the larger community tend to take care
of each other, and to assist in times of economic need.
Hence, it would be more common to turn to a community
member for economic assistance rather than to a
government agency. This leads to relatively low levels
of Pakistani-Americans on welfare and public assistance. According
to the 2000 census the mean household income in the
United States in 2002 was $57,852 annually, whereas for
Asian households, which includes Pakistanis this was
$70,047. A
separate study conducted by the American Community
Survey in 2005, showed the mean and median incomes for
Pakistani male full-time workers were US$59,310 and
US$42,718 - respectively compared to the average male
American full-time workers' mean and median incomes of
US$56,724 and US$41,965 - respectively.There
is also incidence of poverty in the Pakistani community
and in particular around new immigrants that migrated
from less privileged backgrounds. These migrants tend to
take low-paying jobs involving manual or unskilled labor
and tend to live in large cities where such jobs are
readily available and in particular New York, where as
of the 2000 census, poverty rates for Pakistanis in
relation to the total New York population were higher
overall, with 9,417 (28%) of Pakistanis living in
poverty, which is greater than the general New York City
poverty rate of 21%.Compared
with those immigrants that arrived from 1965 who were
either professionals or students and considered to be
middle- and upper-class backgrounds, the newer migrants
tended to be worse off economically.

Compared to other
heritage groups in the United States, Pakistani
Americans tend to be better educated with 87.4% being at
least a high school graduate and
60.9% holding a bachelors degree or higher professional
degree.Dr.
Mehtab Karim, at the Pew
Research Center found
that 29.5% of Pakistanis completed four years of
college, 22.5% completed a Master’s in a professional
degree while 1.6% acquired a doctorate degree, this
compared with the American national average of 17.6%,
20% and 1.1% respectively.

Shahid Khan is a Pakistani American billionaire
businessman who is owner of an auto-parts company and
the NFL team Jacksonville
Jaguars. As of 2012, he was estimated to have a net
worth exceeding $2.5 billion and is featured on the Forbes
400 list of richest Americans, on which he ranks
179. Overall on the Forbes list of billionaires, he is
the 491st richest person in the world.

Labour

The table shows the areas of work that
Pakistanis are employed in and compares the persons that
are born in the U.S., those born in Pakistan and those
that are American nationals:

Occupational characteristics

% Managerial -
business/financial-related occupations

% Professional related
occupations

% Self-employed

FB1

Men

15.1

29.6

17.1

FB1

Women

8.8

32.0

9.6

NB2

Men

10.0

33.3

9.9

NB2

Women

15.6

50.7

7.2

NB3

Men

17.7

18.0

14.0

NB3

Women

11.9

26.7

8.2

Note: FB1 = Pakistani born, NB2 =
American born Pakistani and NB3 = All American nationals

The New
York Times estimated that there were 109,300 workers
born in Pakistan in all occupations in the US in 2007.
With the top 10 occupations in ascending order being;
sales-related, managers and administrators, drivers and
transportation workers, doctors, accountants and other
financial specialists, computer software developers,
scientists and quantitative analysts, engineers and
architects, clerical and administrative staff, and
teachers.